Ferrari's Charles Leclerc Dominates First Australian F1 Grand Prix In Three Years

Max Verstappen is currently Charles' only real competition, but his team seems unable to build him a reliable car.

On lap 39 of 58, the Red Bull #1 gave in. This time the trouble seemed more serious, as the car actually caught fire. Much like Gasly's car during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Mercifully, Sergio Perez's car soldiered on without problems, but the gap between him and Leclerc showed just how much faster the Ferraris are. Perez finished in second place, a little more than 20 seconds behind Leclerc. That's a lifetime in F1.

Red Bull is burning through engines quite quickly. Later on in the season, this will lead to grid penalties, which is the last thing the reigning world champ needs. He summarised it quite aptly, saying at this stage, they just need to finish races, they aren't even in the title chase.

In F1 teams, there is a hierarchy. We all know this. Verstappen and Hamilton are the number one drivers, and Perez and Russell are there to back them up.

So why are the supporting acts currently in the lead? Russell is currently second in the championship on 37 points - despite lacking a competitive car and Sergio Perez is fourth on 30 points. Hamilton and Verstappen are fifth and sixth, respectively. Hamilton has scored consistently, giving him 28 points. Max has one win and two DNFs, giving him 25 points.

At what point does the hierarchy change? Perez has proven himself worthy of a Red Bull seat, and Mercedes' new boy is easily outperforming the seven-time world champ in the same car. One has to wonder if both these teams can get their stuff together later in the season, will they employ team orders to favor the #1 drivers? Or will they see that the secondary drivers have delivered the goods and deserve the chance to fight their way to the top?

If it weren't for Aston Martin, whose fastest car on the grid this weekend was the Aston Martin Vantage safety car, McLaren would be the joke of the season. Still, big companies are showing a lot of interest in partnering with the papaya team.

McLaren's performance in Australia proved that the team is slowly making the car better. From not really featuring in the first two races, Lando Norris managed to bag fifth place followed by his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo in sixth in his home race. It seems Lando is worth that $80 million investment after all. In the early stages of the race, it even seemed that McLaren might be able to give Mercedes a solid challenge.

McLaren is currently fourth in the constructor's championship, matching their performance from last year. However, they'll need to maintain this upward trend if 2022 is going to be anything to write home about.

Interestingly, Aston Martin remains the only team without points, and Australia was a race the British team would soon like to forget. After crashes and mechanical failures in practice and qualifying, Sebastian Vettel crashed out of the Grand Prix, while Lance Stroll picked up penalties for dangerous driving. Even Williams has one point, defying the odds with Alex Albon completing the full race on a single set of tires, pitting at the last moment to avoid a penalty and managing to pick up 10th.

Haas, unfortunately, struggled to maintain momentum this weekend, with both drivers finishing outside the points. Still, there was good news as Mick Schumacher seemed to find a groove, finishing ahead of Kevin Magnussen for the first time this season.

Alpine, who put in a phenomenal showing in Saudi Arabia, was looking strong down under. In fact, had it not been for a hydraulic failure, Fernando Alonso looked like he was about to snatch pole position in the dying moments of Q3 when he ended up in the barriers on an absolute flyer of a lap. He said the car was feeling great early in the race too, and it was only a safety car that affected the team's strategy and ultimately undid Alonso's effort.

Alfa Romeo were strong mid-field contenders this race, with Valtteri Bottas finishing 9th while season rookie, Zhou Guanyu, finished just outside the points in 11th.

While Leclerc may have given Ferrari a victory, the day was a mess for his teammate Carlos Sainz. After starting the race in 9th due to a red flag in qualifying erasing his flying lap, he ended up going in too deep on an overtake and beached his car in a gravel trap, ending his race prematurely.

The next race is Imola, or the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari as it's known locally.

This gives Ferrari the home team advantage, and it won't want to mess that up. Ferrari will do everything in its power for a one-two victory, which means Carlos Sainz will have to up his game.

Red Bull, once again, has to go back to the drawing board. It obviously has severe engine problems, and even without them, the team is still off Ferrari's pace. Mercedes still needs to find some pace, though consistent performances from both its driver mean it's currently second place in the constructor's championship. But second isn't good enough if you've been the best for the last eight years.